Meet Tom Corbett

Background

He served two stints as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General. In 1995, Governor Tom Ridge appointed Corbett to serve out Ernie Preate’s term, after the Republican AG was convicted on corruption charges. Following Pennsylvania tradition, Corbett declined to seek full term in 1996. He ran in 2004, though, winning a close race against Democrat Jim Eisenhower.

Corbett gained public attention in 2007 by launching an investigation into corruption at the state Capitol. Dubbed “Bonusgate,” the probe led to the arrest of six state representatives and 19 staffers. Four people, including former House Minority Whip Mike Veon, have been convicted, six have pleaded guilty, and two have been found “not guilty.”

Corbett ran for reelection in 2008, and won a decisive victory.

He announced his campaign for governor in late 2009, and defeated Representative Sam Rohrer by a 38-point margin in the May 2010 Republican primary.

Corbett has lived most of his life in Shaler, Allegheny County. He’s married to Susan, and has two children: Tom and Katherine. Corbett graduated from Lebanon Valley College and St. Mary’s University School of Law in San Antonio. He served as United States Attorney for the Western District of Pennsylvania in the late 1980s and early 90s.

On energy issues, Corbett is committed to growing Pennsylvania’s natural gas drilling industry. In his March 2011 budget address, Corbett said, “Let’s make Pennsylvania the hub of this [drilling] boom. Just as the oil companies decided to headquarter in one of a dozen states with oil, let’s make Pennsylvania the Texas of the natural gas boom. I’m determined that Pennsylvania not lose this moment. We have the chance to get it.”

Corbett flat-out opposed to a severance tax – in fact he’s promised to forgo all tax increases throughout his tenure as governor. He did, however, support the “impact fee,” included in Act 13. The Republican received more than $900,000 in contributions from the drilling industry during the 2010 campaign, though energy companies gave money to his opponent, Dan Onorato, as well.

Despite building his reputation on fighting public corruption, StateImpact Pennsylvania has uncovered two recent instances where Corbett failed to file ethics reports correctly.

Latest Posts

November 4, 2014

Now we know. Democrat Tom Wolf will indeed be taking the reins from Gov. Corbett in just over two months. For the first time since 1954, an incumbent Pennsylvania governor did not either win re-election or cede power to someone from their own party. That’s an historic loss for Pennsylvania’s GOP, which has been supportive [...]

October 28, 2014

Election day is just a week away. And whoever ends up winning the race for Pennsylvania’s governor will have climate change on their agenda. That’s because states now have to implement new EPA rules decreasing carbon emissions at power plants. But the two candidates are far apart on their approach to reducing the state’s carbon [...]

September 26, 2014

Speaking Thursday at a gas industry trade group conference in Pittsburgh, Governor Corbett said he has yet to see any “intentional violations” by drillers. “Have there been violations? Yeah. And that’s when we have to take action,” Corbett said. “If it happens again, the action gets a little harder. If it happens again, it’s gonna [...]

September 9, 2014

Republican Governor Tom Corbett said at a news conference Tuesday that the public may be misinformed about the consequences a severance tax could have on the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania. A new poll from the University of Michigan shows a majority of residents support a tax on gas production – a measure Corbett has long [...]

July 2, 2014

At a press conference Wednesday afternoon, Governor Tom Corbett refused to answer questions about allegations state health department employees were silenced on the issue of natural gas development. A StateImpact Pennsylvania investigation has revealed that in 2012, employees were sent a list of drilling-related “buzzwords” as part of a guidance for how to handle drilling-related health complaints. The [...]

June 17, 2014

With mounting pressure to find new revenue in the face of an estimated $1.4 billion budget gap this year, the Corbett administration is signaling it may be open to levying a new extraction tax on Pennsylvania’s natural gas operators. At a press conference in Harrisburg today, Corbett said he still doesn’t like the idea of [...]

June 12, 2014

Governor Corbett announced $12.5 million dollars will be available for grants and loans to fund renewable energy projects around the state. The grants will financed by the Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority for solar, wind, hydropower, and biomass projects. Funding will also be available for alternative energy fuels, manufacturing, and research. “This funding is an opportunity for [...]

June 6, 2014

A new Quinnipiac University poll shows that a majority of Pennsylvania voters support the state’s Marcellus Shale boom. However, the poll found most of them oppose the idea of more drilling in the state’s parks and forests. Fifty-eight percent of voters said they are in favor of natural gas development and 33 percent said they oppose [...]

June 2, 2014

Pennsylvania would be required to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 32 percent over the next 15 years under new federal regulations announced on Monday. It is the first time the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed regulations specifically aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions generated by the nation’s power plants. And it is one of [...]

May 28, 2014

The state Commonwealth Court heard testimony today on an effort to prevent the Corbett administration from opening up more public park and forest land to natural gas drilling. As part of a larger lawsuit, the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) is seeking a preliminary injunction to halt additional leasing of public land and the transfer of [...]